What was the man’s business? David, rather amused at the other’s surliness, followed after, walking jauntily.
He climbed the ledge of rock. There was another scallop of beach, with bushes close down to the sand. The man was not in sight. But there was a small fishing-smack at anchor not far from the shore, and a dory was just pulling away from her.
David stepped down on the beach, and the first thing he knew something had knocked him flat. He lay sprawling on the sand, a heavy weight on his back. Someone had caught his two hands and held them like a vise.
“Holler if you want to,” said the man with the straw hat.
David had no wish to shout. The breath was knocked out of him.
The man pinned him down, and after kicking a little, David decided the wisest course was to lie still.
After a few minutes there was a grating sound on the sand. David twisted his head enough to see that the dory had landed and that two men were coming ashore.
“Hello, Sam, what you got there?” exclaimed one of the strangers.
“A fresh guy, who wouldn’t mind his own business,” was the answer. “Now I’m going to teach him not to meddle:”
“Good for you, old sport! Give him a good licking.”